Rocking the Mote (cont)Guy is Rocking the Mote at the National Trust's Ightham Mote, Mote Road, Ivy Hatch, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0NT from 6th August - 1st October 2101. Sculptures in the house, courtyard and gardens, with paintings in the house all for sale to help raise funds for the preservation of Ightham Mote. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ighthammote
Guy will be at the Mote to chat to visitors on 29th August and then in September on 9th ( Ferrari Day) 22nd, 27th and 30th September as well as with Tom Hart Dyke from Lullingstone Castle's World Garden on 10th September doing Garden Tours, and on 14th September doing "POP UP" talks with Lennox Cato from the Antiques Road Show in the house.August 2012: Rocking the Mote

A celebration of British music, with pieces inspired by The Who, the Sex Pistols and even the Spice Girls, is wowing visitors to National Trust jewel Ightham Mote

Visitors to Ightham Mote this summer may be in for a bit of a shock when they enter the inner courtyard of this beautiful manor and are greeted by a large sculpture of The Who. It’s part of a retrospective exhibition covering work that spans more than 30 years by Tonbridge sculptor Guy Portelli, who has become a household name with his appearances on TV and in the press.

In the manor house and grounds Guy’s Pop Icon sculptures, including Bono, Frank Sinatra, The Sex Pistols and even The Spice Girls, will add a new dimension to a house steeped in history going back 700 years and with strong links to Mendelssohn, John Singer Sargent and Henry James.

“I think of pop stars as modern-day knights, with a hedonistic lifestyle, fast cars and stately homes,” says South African-born Guy. “I have always thought of my sculptures as dealing with contemporary themes but influenced by antiquities from all over the world, in particular Egypt and Latin America,” adds Guy. “I put this down to an interest in archaeology at a young age, but not having the patience to dig for treasures, I make them instead.”

This summer Guy is also taking part in a major Olympics 2012 exhibition at Gallery Different in Fitzrovia (0207 6373775). Running until 20 August, ‘London is Calling’ is a celebration of the musicians and bands who made London the cultural capital it is today.